Long review ahead:

My girlfriend and I did the 4 night run in NYC. We had the same seats all four nights in section 114 looking at page’s beautiful bald spot. Most of our regular crew was not in attendance so these shows felt a bit different. She came down with a cold pre run. On top of this, seats are hard for us, we like to dance and flail about. First couple nights were certainly an adjustment. By night three it was make it or break it time. During the day we ventured out with some local friends and did the overcrowded MoMa that was somehow still worth it. Get to the show and it looks like we have at least one empty seat on each side of us, a tear of joy? Maybe. The guy to my left comes in and we are quickly having an awesome conversation. Things are looking up!

Wilson Ok OK we off
Final Hurrah, the guy next to me incorrectly calls it as party time on the first note, we are both pleasantly surprised when its some scandanavian fire. I find the line “I am in a square, dangling in mid air” very apt for Madison *Square* Garden that happens to be 7 floors up.
46 days My brain tries to will the band into playing it just like the Trey Trio did in Nola two years ago, but it ends up being a simply SOLID rendition and nothing too brain melty.
Ok Ballad of Curis Loew. I’ve seen 82 shows at this point, i’ve seen 7 curtis loews. I say something about this inflated stat, my new seat mate and dare I say friend this early into the show? Yes, yes i do; replies “well its my first”, immediately I’m put into a new headspace.
What’s this coming around the bend? Blaze on, a song who has become such a jam and energy powerhouse when used well. This version does not disappoint, we find Trey blissfully riffing within a few bars of starting the song, feels like something jerry would do occasionally at the beginning of an eyes of the world when he was FEEELING it man. The jam explodes in a familiar and awesome way getting deep for just a few moments. Next up we have Corinna, a song I wasn’t sure if I’d seen or not and certainly was not familiar with at this point. Side note: while recapping the show with my dad he let me know that its a Taj Mahal song who actually comes from where I am currently living WESTERN MASS. I found the song refreshing and fun, the best kind of bustout. Next we have an incredibly tight Mike’s ->Contact->Weekapaug. Its as if Mike gordon hand selected all the best oranges and juiced them down into the distilled nectar we crave for our ear mouths. Nothing but the juice, and contact is somehow extra juicy. By this time our small group of three new friends was calling ourselves a team and forging the road to a simply mind blowing second set. About to run is fun but honestly not too memorable but thats OK. MORE caps off the set in a way that gets me thinking about all the good things this year has seen and we all share in the vibrating love and light. Go TEAM!

OK onto the second set. Tweezer -> Trey is locked in, fishman seems determined. Mike and Page are scheming some sort of nefarious plan. What the fuck is going on? Time and space seem to bend at the bands will, we are transported into a world of pure improvisation. Our consciousness is lifted, the room is a ball of energy. We float in an ambient life force of PHISH pure and unadulterated. This is what we are after. No one is talking, no cigs in our section, the occasional “what the fucccccc” or gasp is all that gets uttered as the band plays on. I like to use the word transcendental for stuff like this. The band and audience are at one in flow. At the end of the jam, Tweezer turns into some sort of song I should probably be familiar with but its lost on me and it frankly doesn’t bother me. Pan story follows and I loved every minute of it. Ruby waves is the obvious followup and tonight seems like the perfect canvas for it to paint its beautiful melody. I found myself waking up the following morning with the lyrics bouncing around my head. Steam follows and provides a nice space for our brains to re-congeal just for a moment. The band, eager to play with its obviously captive audience, decides to weave Steam into Tweezer and then back to Ruby Waves. Nothing like a tweezer reprise that isn’t tweezer reprise if you ask me . To cap off this beautiful night the band decides to treat us to a well deserved slave to the traffic light. When it caps a night like this you can’t help but love every note while you reflect on all that is. The band leaves the stage before encore. Could this really be a 4 song second set? My mind can’t seem to fathom. At any rate the band comes back and brings the NYC vibes with the Velvet Underground’s Rock and Roll and its def gonna be alllllright now. We walk out different people than when we arrived. Go team! Go Phish! Mission Accomplished.